How do you drink a Polish beer?

Beer Name: Okocim Porter (#58)

Style: Porter

Country: Poland

Size: 16.9 oz bottle

ABV: 8.1

From the book:

Okocim Porter is a Baltic porter. These porters are generally stronger in alcohol and more robust to handle being shipped across the North Sea in the late 1700s. Okocim Porter is robust with a solid 8.1% ABV and full of molasses and chocolate aromas. Its flavor is much the same as the aroma, with a medium body and light carbonation making this an easy drinking porter.

I am pretty sure this is the only beer from Poland on the tour, so I would have to drink it sooner or later. This one wasn't too bad, but it wasn't anything special either. I think any beer that came right after the Bourbon Barrel Stout was destined to be mediocre at best. Sorry Poland, your offering is just a middle-of-the-road experience.

5/10

Bourbon makes everything SLAMJAMMIN'

Beer Name: Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout (#46)

Style: Stout

Country: USA

Size: 12 oz bottle

ABV: 8.5

From the book:

Brewed by Bluegrass Brewing Company, this stout is aged in Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon barrels for approximately 60 days. This imparts a nice hint of bourbon flavor and aroma to the beer. Deep brown to black in color with smells and tastes of coffee, chocolate, a bit of molasses and accented with the bourbon notes but not overpowered by it. Bluegrass Brewing Company is the largest microbrewery in Kentucky and makes some special craft brews. Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout's bourbon edge is quite good and the toasty malt profile plus vanilla creaminess makes the beer a real pleasure to drink.

A real pleasure indeed! It took me a bit of time to get the entire beer poured as this is a very foamy/heady drink. The flavors in this beer are amazing. Nothing is overpowering and the drink is smooth from start to finish. I don't think I have found a new all-time favorite beer, but this one is top 5 at the very least.

10/10

And for visual on how I feel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fipQisc68dQ

A beer fit for a hell hound (from Akron...)

Beer Name:Thirsty Dog Orthus (#245)

Style: Belgian Dubbel

Country: USA

Size: 16 oz draft

ABV: 7.0

From the book: (since this is a special beer and not in the book, I took the following from Thirsty Dog's website) Orthus was the two-headed hell hound brother of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of hell. Orthus is a Belgian Dubbel brown in color, 7 grains, 3 hops, Trappist high gravity yeast. Very drinkable.

I guess from time to time the Lizard gets some very limited beers that tend to not last through the day. This was one of those instances. To top it off, ordering one of these got you a free 10 oz Goose Island Imperial Brown (which isn't on the tour, even though the server said it was, -1 to him). Another darker beer, not too bad, very smooth drink. Not something you would imagine being named after a hell hound...

6/10

Better Than Godzilla

Beer Name: Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout (#42)

Style: Stout

Country: Japan

Size: 11.2 oz bottle

ABV: 7.2

From the book:

The combination of Black, Caramel, Roasted and Chocolate malts provides the big coffee flavor in this stout. The strong espresso character comes from the addition of espresso beans in the boil. The base recipe for this beer is that of a Russian Imperial stout which lends to the aroma and flavor of black currants and dark fruit.

Oh man, this beer is fantastic. Instead of tasting like beer that has coffee flavors, this tastes like coffee (espresso, to be precise) with beer flavors. So good. I will definitely hunt this one down for home consumption in the future.

9/10

Let me try this again...

Beer Name: Stone Cali-Belgique IPA (#215)

Style: India Pale Ale

Country: USA

Size: 16 oz draft

ABV: 6.9

From the book:

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA is a California style IPA with a Belgian influence. Stone IPA is the basis for this beer. THe difference is Stone brews it using a Belgian yeast strain. It gives this aggressive IPA a yeasty fruitiness mingling with the bitterness from the hops.

So, even after the previous week's disaster, I decided to venture back into the Belgian territory. Definitely not as bad as the last one, but I think this will be the last time that I drink one of these for a while, so I can focus on beers that I have a better chance of enjoying.

EDIT: I found out after drinking this that it is February's beer of the month. If I actually liked it, I would have ordered it again for the glass, but I decided that I would rather have the $8...

3/10

AK-Rowdy in the glizass!

Beer Name: Thirsty Dog Siberian Night (#230)

Style: Imperial Stout

Country: USA (Akron!)

Size: 16 oz draft

ABV: 9.0

From the book:

This great example of an Imperial Stout has an enormous flavor profile. Sweet coffee, dark fruit, licorice and walnuts are just a few of the flavors to be noticed, mingled with a slight bitterness that is notable from start to finish. Siberian Night was the 2005 Great American Beer Festival Gold medal winner in the Imperial Stout category.

This year there is a monthly Thirsty Dog beer on tap. A (very) local brewery just down the road in Akron, so being a former Zip I had to represent (or something like that)! Beer that is dark as night and full of flavor, this is another one to come back to in the future. The licorice and coffee flavors were most noticeable to me, and I thought the went together well. Notice how afraid Adam's beer looks in the background...

8/10

Vanilla Ice! (I mean beer...)

Beer Name: Breckenridge Vanilla Porter (#131)

Style: Porter

Country: USA

Size: 16 oz draft

ABV: 4.7

From the book:

Breckenridge Brewery imports vanilla beans from Papua New Guinea and Madagascar to use in the brewing of its Vanilla Porter. The aroma of vanilla is apparent as soon as this beer hits the glass. Chocolate and roasted nut flavors are accentuated by the big vanilla flavor. The roasted malts help temper the sweetness of this beer.

Vanilla indeed! I didn't even need to lean over the glass to smell it. Nice and dark like a porter should be, this wasn't one of my favorites, but the addition of vanilla to the mix makes for a different experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone (except Adam).

6/10